Letter to the Editor: Applicable Punishment Not Enough For Sandusky

To the Editor:

Given the monstrous nature of his crimes against innocent, vulnerable children, it is regrettable that there is no provision within the law which would permit capital punishment to be dispensed to Jerry Sandusky.

I wonder how many lives one may destroy before they are deemed to be worthy of being put to death. Society will have to be content with the fact that he shall never again be free and shall have no ability to infiltrate and destroy the life of any other young person.

Sandusky did not simply rape a child or multiple children; he insidiously made himself an integral part of the lives of the most vulnerable: children without fathers who were so starved for attention and affection from an adult male that he had many of them believing for a time that his sick and perverted interest in them was something to be treasured. 

He got away with victimizing children for so long because he falsely established himself as a caring, devoted, giving humanitarian whose goal was to help children in need, and because he was a kingpin in the untouchable, all-important Penn State University football program. As one pitiable victim testified about why he did not come forward, he asked who would believe "kids" against Jerry Sandusky, defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, Second Mile mogul, and king of State College? I hope we see how inconsequential the violent sport of football is in the grand scheme of things upon examining this horrific case.

Defense attorney Joseph Amendola opened the trial with the bizarre but accurate statement that Sandusky "loves kids so much that he does things none of us would ever do." He also unwisely said that if Sandusky committed the grave crimes of which he was accused that he would deserve to rot in jail for the rest of his life. With thanks to God, to the dedicated jury that heard the case, and to the Attorney General's Office and the State Police which facilitated the prosecution, he shall.

Now the prayers of people of goodwill are with the many Sandusky victims, including any additional silent sufferers who did not come forward in advance of this trial. Their lives shall never be fully pieced back together, but they surely have some comfort in knowing that justice shall be dispensed to the wicked, calculating man who targeted them for criminal exploitation.

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair